NDC Butler Events Oct-Dec

Ongoing Events
    Monday: 5-9pm D&D: If interested please come in to talk to the GM.
    Tuesdays: 5-9pm Magic Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Wednesday (first, third, fifth): 5-9pm Yu-gi-Oh free Play: Join others to play, trade, talk shop, etc.
    Wednesday (second, fourth): 5-9pm Demolay Gaming group.
    Thursday: 5-9pm Magic Casual Play: Any of the following is welcome: 60 card casual or kitchen table decks; League Play; Playtesting in any format; Impromptu draft/sealed.
    Friday: 5:30-9pm; Friday Night Magic (see below for schedule)
    Saturday: 11-2pm Pokemon League: Free Play. Come to play, talk shop or trade pokemon cards. We also usually have someone able to teach the game or help with deckbuilding.
    2-8pm Boardgame Club: A place to enjoy and share Boardgames. Play in a game demo. Bring one of your own games. Meet others who enjoy board games.
    Sunday: 3-5pm D&D:  If interested please come in to talk to the GM.

October Events

     Halloween Comic Fest
10/26 - Sat

     Throne of Eldrane Events
10/6 -Sun 12:30pm: $16 Launch Draft; Throne of Eldrane
10/26 -Sat 2:30pm: $6 Brawl Weekend; Throne of Eldrane

    Friday Night Magic:
  4 -$20 Launch Draft; Throne of Eldrane
  11 -$14 Minimasters
  18 - $6 Standard
  25 - $12 Modern; 6pm

November Events

     Black Friday
11/29 -Friday: All Day

    Friday Night Magic:
   1 -$6 Commander
   8 -$12 Modern; 6pm
   15 -$14 Draft
   22 -$6 Standard
   29 -$12 Modern; 6pm

December Events

    Friday Night Magic:
   6 -$6 Standard
   13 -$12 Modern, 6pm
   20 -$20 Chaos Draft
   27 -$12 Modern, 6pm

NDC Butler Events July-Sept

Ongoing Events
    Monday: 5-9pm D&D: If interested please come in to talk to the GM.
    Tuesdays: 5-9pm Magic Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Wednesday (first, third, fifth): 5-9pm Yu-gi-Oh free Play: Join others to play, trade, talk shop, etc.
    Wednesday (second, fourth): 5-9pm Demolay Gaming group.
    Thursday: 5-9pm Magic Casual Play: Any of the following is welcome: 60 card casual or kitchen table decks; League Play; Playtesting in any format; Impromptu draft/sealed.
    Friday: 5:30-9pm; Friday Night Magic (see below for schedule)
    Saturday: 11-2pm Pokemon League: Free Play. Come to play, talk shop or trade pokemon cards. We also usually have someone able to teach the game or help with deckbuilding.
    2-8pm Boardgame Club: A place to enjoy and share Boardgames. Play in a game demo. Bring one of your own games. Meet others who enjoy board games.
    Sunday: 12:30pm Magic Modern: Modern format $6 entry. 3-4 rounds.
    3-5pm D&D:  If interested please come in to talk to the GM.

July Events
    Not at Comicon Day: July 13.

    Magic 2020 Core Prerelease: All events $30 sealed deck. Prizes 1 pack per match point. Fixed to 3 rounds.
    5 -Friday 5pm – Regular sealed deck
    6 -Saturday 2:30pm – Regular sealed deck
    7 -Sunday 12:30pm – Two-Headed Giant Sealed Deck.

    Friday Night Magic:
    5 – $30 Magic 2020 Prerelease (see above)
    12 - $20 Launch Draft
    19 - $14 Mini-masters
    26 - $6 Standard

August Events
    Butler Anniversary Event: Aug 3.

    Friday Night Magic:
    2 - $6 Standard
    9 - $12 Modern
    16 - $14 Draft
    23 - $6 Standard
    30 - $12 Standard

September Events

    Throne of Eldrane Prerelease: All events $30 sealed deck.
    27 -Friday 5pm - Regular sealed deck. 1 pack per match point, fixed to 3 rounds.
    28 -Saturday 2: 30pm - Regular sealed deck. 3-5 rounds based on attendance.
    29 -Sunday 12:30pm - 2 Headed Giant sealed deck. 1 pack per match point, fixed to 3 rounds.

    Friday Night Magic:
    6 - $6 Standard
    13 - $20 Chaos Draft
    20 - $6 Standard
    27 - $12 Modern

WPN events War of the Spark (Apr-June)

WPN April Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 2,9,16,23,30; 5-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    5: $6 Standard
     12: $14 Draft
    19: $6 Standard
    26: $12 Modern

Prerelease: War of the Spark. All events $30.
    Saturday 27; 2:30pm. Sealed Deck.
    Sunday 28; 12:15pm. 2-headed giant Sealed Deck.

Magic League: Join the league for $10. Get 3-packs, jam games against other league participants for a month. Get promos and discounts for participating. Prizes may also be available. League games can happen anytime two or more players want to game, but official league days are thursdays.
    Thursday 4,11,18; 5-9pm

WPN May Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 6,13,20,27; 5-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
     3: $20 Launch draft (4 packs)
     10: $12 minimasters
    17: $6 Standard
    24: Special Limited Event (TBA)
    31: $6 Standard

Magic Open House: War of the Spark. Learn how to play magic. Get a free deck. Promos just for showing up. We'll cover all game basics, including limited deckbuilding. Free Event 5pm.
    Saturday 4; 2-7pm

Draft Weekend: Just in case you can't make it to the set-launch on the 3rd, or need to jam more limited, there is a second draft just for you.
    Sunday 5; 12:15-5pm $14.

Magic League: Join the league for $10. Get 3-packs, jam games against other league participants for a month. Get promos and discounts for participating. Prizes may also be available. League games can happen anytime two or more players want to game, but official league days are thursdays.
    Thursday 9,16,23,30; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $6 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays starting the 12 th; 12:15-5pm

Magic Weekend: Enjoy a magic celebration. War of the Spark event. Promos for all participants.
    Saturday 25; 2:30pm Standard $12.

WPN June Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 3,10,17,24; 5-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
     7: $6 Standard
     14: Modern Horizons Event
    21: $12 Modern
    28: $6 Standard

Standard Showdown: $6 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays ending the 9 th; 12:15-5pm

Magic League: Join the league for $10. Get 3-packs, jam games against other league participants for a month. Get promos and discounts for participating. Prizes may also be available. League games can happen anytime two or more players want to game, but official league days are thursdays.
    Thursday 6,13,20,27; 5-9pm

WPN events Ravnica Allegance (Jan-Mar)

WPN January Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 1,8,15,22,29; 5-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    4 th: $7 Standard
     11 th: $16 Draft
    18 th: $10 Modern
    25 th: $20 Launch Draft

Magic Open House: Ravnica Alliegence. Learn how to play magic. Get a free deck. Promos just for showing up. We'll cover all game basics, including limited deckbuilding. Free Event 5pm.
    Saturday 12; 2-7pm

Prerelease: Magic Alliegence. All events $30 Sealed deck. Please pre-register to get your guild of choice: Azorius, Rakdos, Gruul, Simic, Orzhov.
    Saturday 19; 2:30pm.
    Sunday 20; 12:15pm. 2-headed giant.

Magic League: Join the league for $10. Get 3-packs of Core 2019, jam games against other league participants for a month. Get promos and discounts for participating. Prizes may also be available. League games can happen anytime two or more players want to game, but official league days are thursdays.
    Thursday 31; 5-9pm

Draft Weekend: Just in case you can't make it to the set-launch on the 25 th, or need to jam more limited, there is a second draft just for you.
    Sunday 27; 12:15-5pm
   

WPN Feburary Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 5,12,19,26; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $6 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 12:15-5pm

Ravnica Weekend: Enjoy a magic celebration, D&D, and all things Ravnica
    Saturday 16; 2:30pm Standard $12.

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    1: $10 mini-masters
     8: $6 Standard
    15: $12 Modern
    22: $6 Standard


WPN March Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 5,12,19,26; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $6 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 12:15-5pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    1: $14 Draft
     8: $6 Standard
    15: $14 Draft
    22: $6 Standard
    29: $12 Modern


WPN April Events
    Magic: The GatheringCommander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 2,9,16,23,30; 5-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    5: $6 Standard
     12: $14 Draft
    19: $6 Standard
    26: $12 Modern

Now Announcing …

Now Announcing …
    I'd like to talk about how a set of effective announcements can curb or eliminate certain problems. To do this I'm going to review some of my standard announcements, and what goal they accomplish. A set of announcements needs to be brief, clear, and target specific needs of the players, the staff, or the event as a whole. In the interest of full disclosure, I don't have a hard 'script' for my announcements, but I do have an outline, which makes sure I hit the same major points in every event I head-judge.

    “Welcome everyone to 's . I am Dan, and I will be your head Judge today.”       
    I start my announcement with a very basic introduction. Where are we? What kinda magic are we playing today? Who am I who is speaking to you? The risk that someone sat down in the wrong event space is slim, but I have had at least one player slink away during announcements. Some people like to stick a joke (or bad pun) here in the beginning. I personally don't do that, but if your player's expect it, it helps grab attention, elicit a response (a quiet chuckle, or groan), and gives you something to hook your audience. So, good for you if you can be that creative.

    “The first thing I would like you to do is take a look at your deck lists. Please make sure that your NAME is somewhere on your deck list. Also be aware that your main deck should be at least 60 cards, and that your sideboard should be somewhere between 0 and 15 cards.”
    Hopefully the player's have done their due diligence and have correct and legal deck lists to submit. The reality is there's one player somewhere frantically scratching out something to re-write it. Also mentioning 'name on deck list' has probably saved me more than one headache of having to figure out who deck list X belongs to by process of elimination. Also please note that I direct the player's attention to their deck list first, because I often don't collect it until I finish with announcements, which often gives those frantic players a full minute-or-two to correct whatever they need to correct.

    “This event is Competitive REL, so please be slightly more precise. Maintain good communication with your opponent about how and when you wish to act. Please refrain from asking for or giving play advice for any match in progress.”
    These 3 sentences have probably been my best friend over the last few years. A quick reminder to 'be slightly more precise' cuts down a lot on sloppy play and random GRV, at least in the early rounds. Maintaining good communication with your opponent has a similar effect. That last sentence about play advice, pretty sure that one comment is the reason why I haven't had to field an outside – assistance penalty since I started to include it in my announcements. Outside assistance comes with a match-loss penalty, which is a pretty serious deal and likely to ruin somebody's event.

    “If you do encounter a rules question, or any other issue or problem arises, please raise your hand and call JUDGE! I will do my best to resolve the issue. Also please be aware that use of electronic devices that can take notes AND access the internet are restricted during a match (boogie boards are fine).”
    These comments are really just about setting expectations. Hopefully everyone present knows how to call a judge, but I still demonstrate by raising my own hand and trying to project the word 'judge' a bit louder than the rest. Players have yet to get into the groove of being in a magic event, or they may be a bit self-conscious about calling a judge. The announcement about electronic devices is just enforcing tournament policy. Usually I don't have to speak to people about using the wrong device at the wrong time, so I judge it to be mostly effective.

    “To make the most out of today DO NOT offer anything in exchange for a match result. Also please resolve your matches using sanctioned magic, and not some other means like rolling a die, revealing cards from the top of your library, or mud wrestling.”
    I think just about every event I've ever been to has had some announcement that has attempted to help players avoid bribery and improperly determining a winner. This is also something that if it happens, somebody's day is over. I like to tell players what TO do, in addition to mention a few things not to do. Also I like including the bit about revealing cards from the top of the library, since that can be a gray area (did they already concede or not?)

    “There are players in today's event. We are looking at swiss rounds followed by a cut to top <4>.  My tardiness policy for today is minutes game-loss, 10 minutes match-loss.”
    I save these comments for last, because (1) they don't fit with the other categories of information that I've established in the rest of my outline, and (2) They are perhaps the most relevant to the actual progress of the tournament, which we are just about to get to.

    “Are there any questions?”
    I rarely get any questions at the end of my Head-Judge announcements. OK, I rarely get any serious questions, there's one player that likes asking me 'how are you?' at my home store. But I leave this at the end to try to cover anything that a player feels they need to know, but is not in my outline. Like I said, I rarely get questions, but the opportunity is there if I need it.

    Speaking of which, I'll open the floor to questions and comments. Is there anything in my outline you would leave out for brevity? Anything you feel you need to add?

(updated) WPN events Guilds of Ravnica (Oct-Dec)

WPN October Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 2,9,16,23,30; 5-9pm

Draft Weekend: Were you not able to draft the new Core 2019 set for set release? Do you just want to draft some more? If so, then there's another draft available on launch weekend. 3 Rounds maximum. 2 packs per match win prizes.
    7th: 12:15 start; $16 draft.

Sealed Box event: Each particpant gets a sealed box of latest product. Your task is to build a 40 card limited deck out of what you open plus basic lands.
    Saturday 6: 2:30 start; $110 or $10 with a preorder box.

Magic League: Join the league for $10. Get 3-packs of Core 2019, jam games against other league participants for a month. Get promos and discounts for participating. Prizes may also be available. League games can happen anytime two or more players want to game, but official league days are thursdays.
    Thursday 11,18,25, nov 1; 5-9pm.

Standard Showdown: $12 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players. 4 Rounds maximum. 2 packs of prize per match win.
    Sundays 12:15-5pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    5 th: $20 Launch Draft (4pk draft, 3 rounds)
     12 th: $25 Sealed Draft (3 rounds)
    19 th: $6 Standard
    26 th: $10 Mini-masters
  
WPN November Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 6,13,20,27; 5-9pm

Magic League: Join the league for $10. Get 3-packs of Core 2019, jam games against other league participants for a month. Get promos and discounts for participating. Prizes may also be available. League games can happen anytime two or more players want to game, but official league days are thursdays.
    Thursday 1; 5-9pm.

Thursday Modern: Presenting a new offering for us for fans of the Modern Format. $11 entry. 4 Rounds maximum, 2 packs of prize per match win.
    Thursdays 8,15,29; 5:30-9pm.

Standard Showdown: $12 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players. 4 Rounds maximum. 2 packs of prize per match win.
    Sundays 12:15-5pm

Magic Ravnica Weekend: A dual-classed event. This features D&D sessions using an adventure module set in Ravnica: City of Guilds. AND booster drafts of Guilds of Ravnica for Magic the Gathering.
    Saturday 10; 2-5 D&D; 5-9 $16 Draft

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    2 th: $7 Standard
     9 th: $14 draft (1 pk per match win)
    16 th: $7 Standard
    23 rd: $12 Modern (2 pk per match win)
    30 th: $7 Standard
  
WPN December Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 4,11,18,25; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $12 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players. 4 Rounds maximum. 2 packs of prize per match win.
    Sundays 12:15-5pm

Thursday Modern: Presenting a new offering for us for fans of the Modern Format. $11 entry. 4 Rounds maximum, 2 packs of prize per match win.
    Thursdays 6,13,20,27; 5:30-9pm.

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    7 th: $45 Ultimate Masters Draft
     14 th: $6 Standard
    21 th: $12 Modern
    28 th: $20 Draft (2 pk per match win, Chaos Draft)

WPN January Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 1,8,15,22,29; 5-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    4 th: $6 Standard
     11 th: $14 Draft
    18 th: $12 Modern
    25 th: $20 Launch Draft

Standard Showdown: $11 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players. 4 Rounds maximum. 2 packs of prize per match win.
    Sundays 12:15-5pm

Situations and Reflections from a PPTQ

Event: PPTQ feeding PT Atlanta @ Pittsburgh Mills
June 2, 2018
Role: Head Judge

  Some events are really interesting in terms of stuff that happened and things to write about. This
event did not feature any grandiose situations or earth-shattering revelations, but did contain a few notable situations. I debated somewhat on whether to write these up or not, but obviously landed on doing so. Small events are good events for teaching and learning experiences within one's community, and I had one good interaction where this was the case. Also we must all recognize that different people have different opinions and skill levels, and by posting about this I might learn from the comments left, or someone else may take away something valuable from me.

Situations:

(1) AP untaps, discovers they only have 6 lands, and they cast Second Sunrise the prior turn. This is a
clear GRV, so we're either backing up or leaving the game state as is. On NAP's prior turn we discover they drew, played a land, attacked with 2 creatures, and deployed a green gear hulk while their opponent was tapped-out. While that sounds like a pretty simple turn, nearly all the decisions they made were based in part that the other (control) player couldn't interact, so it seemed too risky to back up and we left the game-state as is.

(2) AP is about to declare attackers and has 2 Ahn-Crop Crasher and a Glorybringer. His opponent has 5 creatures, including Shalai, Voice of Plenty (You, planeswalkers you control, and other creatures you control have hexproof.). Because Crop-crasher and Glorybringer both have an attack trigger, and targets must be chosen when the trigger goes on the stack, there's no way the AP can force anything other than the Shelai to not be able to block (Shelai is the only legal target for all three triggers).

(3) AP untaps, draws a card, plays a land, and then goes to return a Scarab God to their hand from the
graveyard from the prior turn. NAP stops them, and AP accepts and continues with their turn. Spectator pulls me aside and points this out. As a delayed-zone-change trigger, if called we put it onto the stack no matter how long it's been missed. Policy also indicates that we don't step into a missed trigger situation unless we're prepared to issue a penalty, which I'm not in this case. Obviously I don't intercede, but it was an interesting case to discuss with the spectator who knew a bit about delayed-zone-change triggers and how they work at competitive.

Refelctions:

(3) At the time it felt that perhaps one should interceed in some way, but of course policy does not support that. In discussing it with felow judges, one pointed out that stepping in creates a feel-bad situation. When the AP agrees that he doesn't get his trigger, the players have agreed to the game state, and are ready to build on that agreed game state to reach a perfectly valid conclusion to the game. Stepping in actually causes more harm than good.

WPN events -Core 2019 (July-Sept)

WPN July Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 3,10,17,.24,31; 5-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    6 th: $10 Modern
     13 th: $20 Launch Draft
    20 th: $5 Pauper
    27 th: $7 Standard

Prerelease Core 2019: The core set is back folks, and we are celebrating in style with our allways-popular sealed deck prerelease events.All events $30 per player.
    7 th: 12noon registration; 2pm-ish start Regular sealed deck.
    8 th: 11:30 registration; 12:15 start; 2-headed giant sealed deck.

Draft Weekend: Were you not able to draft the new Core 2019 set for set release? Do you just want to draft some more? If so, then there's another draft available on launch weekend.
    15 th: 12:15 start; $16 draft.

Magic League: Join the league for $10. Get 3-packs of Core 2019, jam games against other league participants for a month. Get promos and discounts for participating. Prizes may also be available. League games can happen anytime two or more players want to game, but official league days are thursdays.
    Thursday 19, 26; 5-9pm.

Standard Showdown: $7 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 22, 29; 12:15-5pm

WPN August Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 7,14,21,28; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $7 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 5,12,19,26; 12:15-5pm

Magic League: Join the league for $10. Get 3-packs of Core 2019, jam games against other league participants for a month. Get promos and discounts for participating. Prizes may also be available. League games can happen anytime two or more players want to game, but official league days are thursdays.
    Thursdays: 2,9; 6-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    3 rd: $7 standard
    10 th: $7 standard
    17 th: $16 Draft
    24 th: $7 standard
    31 st: $10 modern

WPN September Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 4,11,18,25; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $7 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 2:15-5pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    7 th: $7 Standard
    14 th: $20 Draft (Flashback)
    21 st: $7 Standard
    28 th: $10 Modern

Open House Guilds of Ravnica: The perfect event for new players to check out the game, or old players to get back to the game.
    2-4pm: Free Cards, demos, learn-to-play sessions, and meet-and-greet with the magic community.
    5-9pm: FREE magic event.

Prerelease Guilds of Ravnica: Would you believe MORE Ravnica? We are celebrating in style with our allways-popular sealed deck prerelease events.All events $30 per player.
    29 th: 12noon registration; 2pm-ish start Regular sealed deck.
    30 th: 11:30 registration; 12:15 start; 2-headed giant sealed deck.

WPN Events - Dominaria (Apr-Jun)

WPN April Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 3,10,17,24; 5-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    6 th: $7 Standard constructed
    13 th: $16 draft
    20 th: $10 Modern
    27 th: $20 Launch Draft (Dominaria

Store Championship: $10 Standard Constructed. First place is awarded a playmat. Promos (of some kind) for top 8.
    7 th: 1:30 Registration; 2:30pm start.

Open House: Come learn how to play magic, or connect with other players for games or trades.
    14 th: Freeplay 2:30 – 5:30pm; FREE tournament 5:30pm.

Prerelease Events: All events $30 sealed deck for Dominaria.
    21 st: 1:30 Registration; 2:30 start.
    22 nd: 12:15 Start – 2 Headed Giant Sealed Deck.

Draft Weekend: $16 Dominaria draft
    29 th: 12:15pm start.

WPN May Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 1,8,15,22,29; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $7 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 6,13,20,27; 12:15-5pm

League Play: $10 to enter the league, get 3 packs of Dominaria. Build a 30 card minimum deck and jam games against other league participants. League players can meet to log games at any time, but Thursday night is our official meeting night.
    Thursdays: 3,10,17,24; 6-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    4 th: $10 Modern
    11 th: $7 Standard
    18 th: $12 Terrible Draft
    25 th: $7 Standard

WPN June Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 5,12,19,26; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $7 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 3,12:15-5pm

Battlebond Prerelease: 2-headed giant sealed deck using Battlebond packs.
   Sunday,  3. 12:15-5pm $30 per head.

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    1 st: $7 Standard constructed
    8 th: $16 2-headed giant battlebond Draft
    15 th: $7 Standard
    22 nd: $7 Standard (This is GP pittsburgh weekend, so call the store to see if we are firing).
    29 th: $10 Modern

WPN Events -Rivals (Jan-Mar)

WPN January Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 2,9,16,23,30; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $7 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 21,28; 12:15-5pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    5 th: $7 Standard constructed
    12 th: $7 Standard constructed
    19 th: $20 Launch Draft
    26 th: $10 Modern

League: $10 to enter the league. Get 3 packs. Play against other league players in limited games. Add 1 pack per week, and 1 pack per 3 losses. League packs are available 3 for $10 or 10% off.
    Thursdays 25 th; 5-9pm.

Magic Open House: FREE to PLAY. Hang out with other magic players. LEARN the game. GET FREE CARDS.
    Saturday 6 th; 2:30-5pm Demos and open play; 5:30pm Sealed or draft event (FREE).

Magic Prerelease: Rivals of Ixilan: Once again we are proud to host a prerelease for magic: the gathering. Rivals of Ixilan continues to explore the plane of Ixilan. Event times and pricing below.
    Saturday 13 th; 1:30 Registration; 2:30-7pm $30 Sealed Deck
    Sunday 14 th; 11:30 Registration; 12:15-5pm $30 2 Headed Giant Sealed deck.

WPN Febuary Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 6,13,20,27; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $7 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 4,11,18,25; 12:15-5pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    2 nd: $7 Standard constructed
    9 th: $5 Pauper constructed
    16 th: $16 Draft
    23 rd: $10 Modern

League: $10 to enter the league. Get 3 packs. Play against other league players in limited games. Add 1 pack per week, and 1 pack per 3 losses. League packs are available 3 for $10 or 10% off.
    Thursdays 1,8,15; 5-9pm.

WPN March Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 6,13,20,27; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $7 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 4,11,18; 25:15-5pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    2 nd: $7 Standard constructed
    9 th: $5 Pauper
    16 th: $40 masters edition Draft
    23 rd: $10 Modern
    30 th: $20 Flashback Draft

WPN events Nov-Dec

WPN November Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 7,14,21,28; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $7 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 5,12,19,26; 12:15-5pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    3 rd: $7 Standard Constructed.
    10 th: $7 Standard Constructed.
    17 th: $40 Iconic masters draft.
    24 th: $20 Throwback draft – Return to Ravnica.


WPN December Events
    Magic: The Gathering

Commander: We have a regular Tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 5,12,19,26; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $7 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards experienced players.
    Sundays 3,10,17; 12:15-5pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    1 st: $7 Standard constructed
    8 th: $7 Standard constructed
    15 th: $16 Unstable Draft
    22 nd: $10 Modern
    29 th: $20 Chaos Draft

Store Champs: Ixilan Store Champs. $10 Standard constructed. Promo items for all participants, playmat for first place, additional promo items for top 8.
    Sat, 30; 2:30pm - 7pm

WPN Events Sept -Oct

WPN September Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Standard Showdown: $5 standard constructed event geared towards casual play. Promotional items available to participants.
    Sunday: 3, 10; 12:30-5pm

Commander: We have a regular tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays: 5,12,19,26; 5-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    1st: Pauper $7 – Constructed using only commons, using the MTGO pauper legality.
    8th: Standard $7 – Constructed using Battle for Zendikar to current set.
    15th: Draft $16 - Most recent draft format. Amonkhet/Hour of Devistation.
    22nd: Modern $10 - A constructed format for more experienced and longer term magic players. Goes back to 8th edition core set/mirrodin.
    29th: Draft $20 – Special 4 pack launch draft featuring Ixlan.
   
Prerelease Ixlan: NDC Butler is once again proud to host an official pre-release for Ixlan. A plane of Pirates, Dinosaurs, and one Planeswalker Gorgon. All events $30 per player. Door prizes each round in each event. Final standing prizes based on attendance (3pks/player), paid out based on Match Points.Note times and formats below:
    Sat23rd: Noon Registration; 2:30pm start; Sealed Deck.
    Sun24th: 11:30 registration; 12:15pm start; 2-headed giant Sealed Deck.

WPN October Events
    Magic: The GatheringCommander: We have a regular tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays 3,10,17,24,31; 5-9pm

Draft Weekend: $16 draft format. Ixlan limited format.
    Sunday 1st. 12:15-5pm

Standard Showdown: $7 standard constructed event. Promotional items available to participants. Geared towards eperienced players.
    Sundays 8,15,22,29; 12:15-5pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All skill levels welcome. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    6 th: $7 Standard Constructed.
    13 th: $10 Modern format.
    20 th: $16 Draft format
    27 th: $5 Pauper format

League: $10 to join the league. Get 3 packs, build a 30 card deck to start, play with other league participants and add cards to your deck. Players may meet at any time but Thursday is our official 'league day'. Geared towards newer players.
    Thursdays 5,12,19,26; 5-9pm

WPN events August-Sept

WPN August Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Commander: We have a regular tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays: 1,8,15,22,29; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $5 standard constructed event geared towards casual play. Promotional items available to participants.
    Sundays: 13,20,27; 12:30-5pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    4th: Standard $7 – Constructed using Battle for Zendikar to current set.
    11th: Chaos Draft $12 – Limited draft using VERY special packs.
    18th: Draft $16 – Most recent draft format. Amonkhet/Hour of Devistation.
    25th: Modern $10 – A constructed format for more experienced and longer term magic players. Goes back to 8th edition core set/mirrodin.

Magic Game Day: $10 Standard constructed. All participants get promotional card. Top 8 get foil promo card, 1st place gets champion playmat.

WPN September Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Standard Showdown: $5 standard constructed event geared towards casual play. Promotional items available to participants.
    Sunday: 3, 10; 12:30-5pm

Commander: We have a regular tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays: 5,12,19,26; 5-9pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    1st: Pauper $7 – Constructed using only commons, using the MTGO pauper legality.
    8th: Standard $7 – Constructed using Battle for Zendikar to current set.
    15th: Draft $16 - Most recent draft format. Amonkhet/Hour of Devistation.
    22nd: Modern $10 - A constructed format for more experienced and longer term magic players. Goes back to 8th edition core set/mirrodin.
    29th: Draft $20 – Special 4 pack launch draft featuring Ixlan.
   
Prerelease Ixlan: NDC Butler is once again proud to host an official pre-release for Ixlan. A plane of Pirates, Dinosaurs, and one Planeswalker Gorgon. All events $30 per player. Door prizes each round in each event. Final standing prizes based on attendance (3pks/player), paid out based on Match Points.Note times and formats below:
    Sat23rd: Noon Registration; 2:30pm start; Sealed Deck.
    Sun24th: 11:30 registration; 12:15pm start; 2-headed giant Sealed Deck.

Building Jund: An alternate methodology for building commander.

= Building Jund: An alternate methodology for building commander.

As you may know I play commander, and I try to build decks that are fun for me, interesting, but not overpowered, non-oppressive, nor exceptionally greedy in terms of how much they want to control the game or eat up other player's time.

For a few months now, the Jund shard (black, green, red) has been on tap as my next build, and I've slowly been accumulating cards for it as I usually do for these projects. Jund was the only 3-allied colored shard I did not have a commander deck for, and I decided I wanted to fix that.

For a while I was accumulating powerful hate cards, cards like Hydra Omnivore, Stalking Vengeance, and Archfiend of Depravity to aggressively burn, kill, and otherwise make my opponent's life difficult. As it turns out, I ended up going in a slightly different direction, due in no small part to a new approach to the deck-building process that I tried, and I actually found it quicker and easier to arrive at a final list based on this process than what I usually do.

For the record, most of my commander builds so far have looked quite similar to the Zur the Enchanter build I wrote about quite some time ago [here] http://butlerwpn.blogspot.com/2011/03/its-all-in-cards.html

This new method, I'll call the Skeleton Method, and it works like this:

Step 1: Set aside a build box, fill it with cards. This step is virtually the same as the first step in the old framework. Before we can sit down and physically build the deck, we need to set aside a pool of 'possibles'. This pool should be significantly large, 200+ cards – so that we have ample effects/ choices to choose from.

Step 2: Sort/review pool. By sitting down and sorting the cards by color (for example) we can take a mental inventory of what we've accumulated, what sorts of effects we have to play with, and what kinds of synergies we can take advantage of. It also allows us to cut the duplicate cards, as well as add things that are obviously missing (board wipes, anti-artifact cards, a few ways to deal with troublesome commanders, etc).

Step 3: Build a Skeleton. A skeleton, as I call it, is sort of like a blueprint for your deck. It is not a rigid deck list, where you need exactly cards x,y, and z. But it does give you a framework of what cards to pick. In essence when you build a skeleton, you pre-assign card slots in your deck to a specific function.

My Jund Skeleton looked like this:

1 = Commander: Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper ended up in the command zone for this Jund build. Partially because he was the only appropriately colored legend I had on tap that wasn't a dragon. As it turns out this shaped the rest of my skeleton.
1 = Alternate Commanders:  For Jund I had knew I eventually wanted a copy of Kresh the Bloodbraided - who also cares about creatures dying.
4 = Rocks. Yep I set aside 4 card slots to be consumed by mana producing artifacts. More than any other deck that I have built to date (except esper artifacts). The advantage of Rocks should be obvious since it theoretically allows you to play your 7 mana bomb on turn 5.
4 = Ramp. So in addition to the rocks above, I also wanted 4 cards to go find land in my deck and put it either on the table or in my hand. These two functions are very close, but necessary to play the big explosive cards that I love so much.
4 = Creature wipes. I always play a certain number of cards capable of sweeping the board of creatures. Since this deck has some recursion, cares about creatures dying, and also isn't ALL creatures, I opted for 4.
5 = Draw engine. Every deck needs to draw cards, and this deck is no exception. While 5 cards may not seem like much, I want each card to represent a draw engine that is going to draw me extra cards consistently as the game goes on.
5 = Sacrifice Outlets. This deck is going to care about creatures dying. Thus I will need some ways to get rid of my own creatures on my own terms.
6 = Graveyard recursion. So because a decent chunk of the deck revolves around stuff going to the grave, it's probably a smart move to run several cards that can bring creatures back out of the graveyard, primarily so they can die again.
6 = Dies triggers. What better way to take advantage of stuff getting killed than a few cards with abilities that care when things go to the graveyard.
6 = Kill stuff dead. Other people are going to have stuff that needs dead. So we allocate 6 card slots to cards that can kill creatures.
7 = Art/ench hate. This is something that should be in every deck. However, I usually only end up playing a few of these cards. For this deck I really wanted to go deep on this category of cards to muck up other players plans for generating value or being able to combo off. This was originally 10 cards deep, but we cut 3 to provide a bit more space for 'engine' cards that were going to make the deck tick.
3 = Plan Trample. My general game plan with this deck is to field anywhere from a handfull to a small horde of creatures and get in there with an alpha trample attack (plan b turned out to be burn). Normally I don't note a category unless it has at least 4 cards in it, but including this win condition was vital to enable the deck to close out games.
10 = Flex spots. Hey even the best skeleton has a few holes in it. So make sure you always set aside several card slots for those holes. This can represent effects that are actually useful for you but aren't covered in the main skeleton. Powerful cards in your color palate that don't fit your theme. Or just, you know, that one 'cute' card that you need to run for fun.
18 = Non-basic lands. For the most part in a 3-color deck I use most of my non basic land slots as color-fixing. However, I did manage to squeeze in 5 utility lands (some tap for colored mana, but most are colorless).
20 = Basic lands. While it might be tempting to dig deeper into the non-basic land pool, I personally have learned to respect basics, and pretty much always run at least 18 of them.
100 = Total. Just in case you hadn't noticed, the total number of card slots in our skeleton is 100 cards, because that's the size of the deck we need to build.

4. Fill in the Skeleton. Filling in the skeleton is the process of actually picking the cards to fill the slots that you have assigned. For example, I've allocated 5 slots to sacrifice outlets. I go through my build box of 200+ cards, and I pull all the sacrifice outlets I've set aside. This could be as few as 5 depending on how stringent I was when I was putting together the build box, but I'm usually pretty loose, so for me this is 15 to 20 cards. Then you have to pick out the 5 among that pile that seem the most interesting, fun, or synergistic with the rest of your deck. Yes, the rest of your deck doesn't exist yet, but because of the skeleton you have an idea of the sorts of effects that will appear, so you can often make very educated decisions about synergy. Do this process for each category/grouping of cards that you have defined. You can leave Basic Land alone for now (The exact distribution will be based on the final list). You can also only assign some (or none) of your flex slots.
    By far the most interesting part of the skeleton process is that if you find a card that does multiple things for your deck, and don't include as part of effect x, you will still consider it for effect y. Ultimately I tend to give these sorts of cards preference even if they aren't the most efficient or powerful, because their flexibility often makes up for it.

5. Revise. Even after you've picked all the cards to fill in your skeleton, that doesn't mean your deck is done. Revising your choices after all the cards are on the table is an important second or third pass on your deck. For Jund I passed through my deck twice. Once I was looking for non-creature cards to replace with creatures. Non-token creatures interacted with my commander and draw engine cards. So if I could run a creature that served a particular function, I did so. And this pass added 3-5 to the creature count of my deck, bringing the total to 35, which I felt was acceptable. My third pass was laying out all the cards by converted mana cost to determine if there were too many CMC 7+ cards, and if I could bring the deck any closer to a more acceptable 4-6 mana range. I changed 2 cards during that process. This is also the time to finalize your 'flex' slots, if you have any left.

6. Land. I still distribute basics in a commander deck using the same color-balance algorithm I used in the Zur build. Count colored mana symbols and note totals to determine the percent of your deck in each color, and add basics based on those percentages.

7. Test. I still perform a two-step testing stage. Step one is to solo/goldfish the deck to make sure that the effects that I put into the skeleton are showing up, and in the right distribution. I also use these solo tests to measure the deck's pacing. How many cards have I drawn by the end of turn 20? If it's 30 the deck is going to be slow (which is not a problem, but changes how I have to play it, or may make me change a few card choices). If it's 40 or better, the deck is either keeping good pace or is slow early with an explosive late game – which is usually where I like to be.
    The second stage of testing is in live games with opponents. Usually the deck plays out significantly different when other people are interacting with your well-laid plans. Did we have enough answers to other people's threats? Were any of our cards dead-draws against certain strategies? Did we manage to keep pace with the game, or at least keep up to our own designed tempo?
    After each round of testing, we often go back and change 2-5 cards in the deck to tweak it to our own personal taste.

Event Report: Magic: The Gathering at Origins Game Fair by Pastimes.

Event Report: Magic: The Gathering at Origins Game Fair by Pastimes.

    My two days floor judging this event was really a lot of fun. Having been to Orgins before with Star City Games, this is a remarkably different experience with several small events firing instead of one or two large events. That being said Pastimes provided an awesome array of scheduled side events that I would have been excited to play in – and was equally excited to judge. The event has a lot of growth potential, and I'm looking forward to going back to origins in some capacity in the future.

    I return to my local scene invigorated and excited about magic. Something both remarkable and important with the recent format fatigue setting into the standard environment. I legitimately want to run some of the events I saw (and saw on the schedule) in my own local gaming store. Things like..
    Sealed Draft – Open 3 packs, draft 3 packs: End up with a busted draft deck.
    Draft-a-thon – Draft, play 3 rounds; Draft, Play 3 rounds; Cut to top 8 and Draft a third time, playing 3 rounds.
    Chaos drafts – A draft containing irregular and often unpredictable product.
    Chase-the-Planes – A limited event where a global effect, AKA: Chaos magic, applies to each round of the event.
    It also occurs to me that the recent Archenemy boxed set would make a great 4-player event using either the provided decks as a preconstructed experience, or in a form of limited. We may have to chalk this one up to a missed opportunity since it just released.

    Most of the two days I was there was standard judge fare. Pushing in chairs, picking up trash, straightening table-rows and fixing tablecloths is actually a important part of maintaining a smooth event transition. There were up to three events running simultaneously at any given time – Sealed deck, draft, modern, commander. General floor coverage and knowing that event A was competitive REL but all the others were regular REL was important. As one of the few Lv2 judges present I was also 'on tap' for other judges to clarify rulings or appeals if necessary.

    As most of these events go, I took notes on interesting rules questions. Some of these I saw personally, others were brought to my attention by other members of the judge staff. For the sake of discussion, assume all the scenarios occurred at Regular REL.

Rebound
    A untaps, goes to cast a Prey's Vengeance (G; Target creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn; Rebound) from exile, animates an Inkmoth Nexus, and points the spell at it. In this case the Staff were questioning if the Rebound spell could be cast since the intended target, Inkmoth Nexus, was not a creature at the start of the upkeep.
    Rebound is a complex ability. The first time the spell is cast it creates a replacement effect that sends it to the exile zone. It also creates a delayed triggered ability that resolves during that player's next upkeep. So there is a triggered ability on the stack that A can respond to, animating the Inkmoth Nexus in time for it to be targeted by the spell.
    I also pointed out to the staff the possibility that we could be looking at Out of Order sequencing (MTR 4.3). Which allows “for players to engage in a block of actions that, while technically in an incorrect order, arrive at a legal and clearly understood game state once they are complete.” The staff decided that this play was effectively Out of Order Sequencing after reviewing that policy, so A did get their pump spell as they intended.

Dark Depths Trigger   
    A untaps, draws, and plays Thespian's Stage “T: add C; 2, T: Thespian's Stage becomes a copy of target land and gains this ability.” They then activate the Thespian's stage's ability targeting their own Dark Depths. The ability resolves, and they put into the graveyard the original Dark Depths due to the legend rule. Then the Thespian's Stage copy of Dark Depths triggers “When Dark Depths has no ice counters on it, sacrifice it. If you do, create a legendary 20/20 black Avatar creature token with flying and indestructible named Marit Lage.” It is at this point that N responds with stifle targeting this trigger. A agrees, but then indicates that the Trigger should resolve a second time – Which N does not believe is so.
    The Dark Depths Trigger is a state trigger. State triggers are unique in that if the game state that causes them remains true, they will trigger again if removed from the stack (CR 603.8). So A is correct, their Dark Depths trigger will fire again, and presuming no responses from N – they will get their Marit Lage Token.
    As a quick strategic aside, N could have played Stifle targeting the activated ability of Thespian's Stage, which would probably bought them at least a turn.

Humble
    A casts Humble Targeting their opponent's Twisted Abomination (5B; 5/3; B: Regenerate). Humble reads “Until end of turn, target creature loses all abilities and has base power and toughness 0/1.” These players are in the middle of combat, and the Twisted Abomination is blocking a creature with at least 3 power. N calls you over and wants to know if they pay B to activate Regeneration, what will happen in the Combat Damage Step?
    First thing's first. It is certainly legal to activate the Regeneration ability at this time, since Humble is still on the stack and the Twisted Abomination does not lose it's abilities until that spell resolves. Secondly, the resolution of that ability creates a replacement effect, namely the regeneration 'shield'. IE: The next time this creature would be destroyed instead tap it, remove it from combat, and remove all damage marked on it. Humble does not interact with this replacement effect. The end result being that Twisted Abomination will be a 0/1, but will regenerate if dealt lethal damage in combat.

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and Madness
    N activates Jace's ability at the end of A's turn. “T: Draw a card, then discard a card. If there are five or more cards in your graveyard, exile Jace, then return him to the battlefield transformed under his owner's control.” they discard an Alchemist's Greeting (Sorcery; 4R; 4 Damage to target creature; Madness 1R). They intend to pay madness to cast this spell and want to know if Jace will transform?
    This interaction was explicitly covered when we got new madness cards in standard back in Shadows over Innistrad. However it all goes down based on the exact way Madness works (CR 702.34). When such a card is discarded, it goes to the exile zone instead of the graveyard, and waits for the madness trigger to resolve before it goes to the graveyard (not cast), or stack (cast). The point is that it's definitely not there during the resolution of Jace's Activated ability, so there is no transformation.

Multiple Attackers AND multiple blockers
    A attacks with two vanilla 2/2s and N has a vanilla 2/2 and a Truehart Duelist (1W; 2/2; May block an additional creature each combat; Embalm 2W). Needless to say there was some confusion for both the players and some staff on exactly how this combat could play out given that Multiple blockers can be assigned to a single attacker, and Truehart Duelist can be assigned to both attackers.
    This all boils down to damage assignment order. As part of the turn based action of declaring blockers, the attacking player has to put all the blockers in front of their creatures into an order. IE: This first, that second, etc. The defending player does the same for each of their blockers that are blocking multiple attackers.
    The thing is this damage assignment order does not determine the sequence of damage, since all combat damage is simultaneous. It does however determine which creatures might die since you have to assign lethal damage to creature #1 first. It's also important to note that while the combat damage order is determined when blockers are declared, the actual assignment of damage does not occur until the combat damage step. This allows damage prevention effects, or more likely pump spells to create interesting results.
    See CR 509.2; 509.3; 510.1c; 510.1d;
   
Draft Issues
    In pack 2 of a draft a player calls judge during the draft portion. The draft is suspended. P3 informs the judge that there is an unaccounted for card on the table between himself and the player proceeding them in the draft. They are unsure if it should be in their pick pile, with the pack they just selected from, or possibly with the pack that is being passed to them now. How do we proceed?
    I felt this was probably the most important situation that arose during the day. The solution I saw implemented by the Head Judge of that event was quick and effective. They had the player that called them re-count the cards in their draft pile, as well as the two packs adjacent to them. Quite simply the pack they were about to pass had N cards in it, the pack they were about to receive also had N cards in it, but their pile of picks was 1 card short. So the extra card was added to that player's draft picks.
    The reason I believe that this is important is because drafts happen a lot in magic, every weekend even. But there's no official policy on how to fix a broken draft. How to fix a broken draft is actually fairly complex because the procedure and algorithm of how a draft plays out is itself complex. Also a large number of things can happen in a draft that would cause it to be broken.
    I would like to encourage the judge community to talk more publicly about how their drafts broke, and what was done to fix them. I myself and going to be on the lookout for broken drafts and fixes in the future. I don't expect an official policy to form, as I say it's probably too complex of an issue. However, it would be nice to have a written 'toolbox' of draft fixes so that we can better educate store staff and judges who often have to perform these fixes.

WPN events July,Aug

WPN July Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Commander: We have a regular tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays: 4,11,18,25; 5-9pm

Open house: An open invitation to all magic players to come check out the store, learn about the standard format, and participate in a FREE standard constructed event.
    Saturday 1; 2-4= Demo and learn-to-play; 5pm FREE standard event.

Standard Showdown: $5 standard constructed event geared towards casual play. Promotional items available to participants.
    Sundays: 2,9,23; 12noon-5pm

Friday Night Magic: $7 Standard constructed. Promotional items available to some participants.
    Friday, 21; 5:30-9pm.

Friday Night Magic – Modern: $10 Modern Format. Promotional items available to all participants.
    Friday 7, 5:30-9pm.

Hour of Devestation Prerelease: Please note information below, as times have changed. Each event offers $30 sealed deck, with random door prizes.
    Saturday 8, 2pm reg; 3-8pm
    Saturday 8, 4pm reg; 5-9pm
    Sunday 9, 11:30am reg; 12:15-5pm; 2-headed giant.

WPN August Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Commander: We have a regular tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays: 1,8,15,22,29; 5-9pm

Standard Showdown: $5 standard constructed event geared towards casual play. Promotional items available to participants.
    Sundays: 13,20,27; 12:30-5pm

Friday Night Magic: Our weekly tournament series for Magic the Gathering. All events run Fridays 5:30-9pm
    4th: Standard $7 – Constructed using Battle for Zendikar to current set.
    11th: Chaos Draft $12 – Limited draft using VERY special packs.
    18th: Draft $16 – Most recent draft format. Amonkhet/Hour of Devistation.
    25th: Modern $10 – A constructed format for more experienced and longer term magic players. Goes back to 8th edition core set/mirrodin.

Magic Game Day: $10 Standard constructed. All participants get promotional card. Top 8 get foil promo card, 1st place gets champion playmat.

WPN events June-July

WPN June Events
    Magic: The Gathering
    Magic: The Gathering: Casual Play: Here, you rule. Come to play, trade, or build decks for Magic: the Gathering. New Players Welcome. Also frequently run odd formats such as planechase, archenemy, commander, emperor, multiplayer, etc.
    Tuesdays: 6,13,20,27

    Friday Night Magic: Here, you rule. Standard type 2 constructed event. $7.00 entry. Hosted by Dan Regewitz.
    Fridays: 2,9,23; 5:30pm - 9:00pm

    Standard Showdown: $5.00 standard event. All participants get promotional items.
    Sundays: 4,11,18,25; 12:30-5pm

    Friday Night Magic Draft: Here, you rule. Join us for our monthly draft event. $16.00 entry. Hosted by Dan Regewitz.
    Friday 16; 5:30pm - 9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic; Modern: Modern is non-cycling format that allows any card printed after 8th edition or Mirrodin block for use, excluding cards on the Modern banned list. Come enjoy this wonderfully diverse format. $20 entry. Eternal Masters packs will be available for prizes.
    Friday, 30th 5:30-9:00pm

    Special Draft: We will either be doing a $16 Conspiracy: take the crown draft, or a slightly more awesome $10 cube draft (the cube uses a lot of conspiracy cards and is geared towards multiplayer chaos).
    Tuesday, June 20; 5-9pm

WPN July Events
    Magic: The Gathering
Commander: We have a regular tuesday night meet-up for fans of the commander format. Grab your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and come check us out. Casual atmosphere, welcome new faces.
    Tuesdays: 4,11,18,25; 5-9pm

Open house: An open invitation to all magic players to come check out the store, learn about the standard format, and participate in a FREE standard constructed event.
    Saturday 1; 2-4= Demo and learn-to-play; 5pm FREE standard event.

Standard Showdown: $5 standard constructed event geared towards casual play. Promotional items available to participants.
    Sundays: 2,9,23; 12noon-5pm

Friday Night Magic: $7 Standard constructed. Promotional items available to some participants.
    Friday, 21; 5:30-9pm.

Friday Night Magic – Modern: $10 Modern Format. Promotional items available to all participants.
    Friday 7, 5:30-9pm.

Hour of Devestation Prerelease: Please note information below, as times have changed. Each event offers $30 sealed deck, with random door prizes.
    Saturday 8, 2pm reg; 3-8pm
    Saturday 8, 4pm reg; 5-9pm
    Sunday 9, 11:30am reg; 12:15-5pm; 2-headed giant.

WPN events May-June

***IMPORTANT***

As many of our regular customers are already aware, the store is MOVING to downtown Butler. Our last day in the Mall is April 31st. Our First day downtown is May 1st. While we endeavor to make this transition as smoothly as possible, some events may be impacted. Feel free to contact the store to confirm what's going on.

www.ndcomics.com
butler[at]ndcomics.com
 
WPN May Events
    Magic: The Gathering
    Casual Play: Here, you rule. Come to play, trade, or build decks for Magic: the Gathering. New Players Welcome. Also frequently run odd formats such as planechase, archenemy, commander, emperor, multiplayer, etc.
    Tuesdays: 6,13; 5:00-9:00pm.

    Standard Showdown: $7.00 standard event. All participants get promotional items.
    Sundays: 7,14,28; 12:30-5:00pm

    Friday Night Magic: Standard type 2 constructed event. $7.00 entry.
    Fridays: 5,19; 5:30pm - 9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic (draft): $16.00 entry.
    Friday: 12; 5:30pm - 9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic; Modern: Modern is non-cycling format that allows any card printed after 8th edition or Mirrodin block for use, excluding cards on the Modern banned list. Come enjoy this wonderfully diverse format. $10 entry. Undefeated players may claim prizes as singles.
    Tues, May 26th 5:30-9:00pm

    Game Day: Standard Constructed. $10.00; All participants get an extended art card. Top8 get a foil extended art card. Playmat for 1st place.
    Saturday: May 20th; 2:30reg 3:00-8pm

    Chaos Draft: The best kind of draft. Using some VERY SPECIAL packs, we will draft 4 packs, and try to make the most out of it. $12 entry.
    Tuesday, May 23rd; 5-9pm

WPN June Events
    Magic: The Gathering
    Magic: The Gathering: Casual Play: Here, you rule. Come to play, trade, or build decks for Magic: the Gathering. New Players Welcome. Also frequently run odd formats such as planechase, archenemy, commander, emperor, multiplayer, etc.
    Tuesdays: 6,13,20,27

    Friday Night Magic: Here, you rule. Standard type 2 constructed event. $7.00 entry. Hosted by Dan Regewitz.
    Fridays: 2,9,23; 5:30pm - 9:00pm

    Standard Showdown: $7.00 standard event. All participants get promotional items.
    Sundays: 4,11,18,25; 12:30-5pm

    Friday Night Magic Draft: Here, you rule. Join us for our monthly draft event. $16.00 entry. Hosted by Dan Regewitz.
    Friday 16; 5:30pm - 9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic; Modern: Modern is non-cycling format that allows any card printed after 8th edition or Mirrodin block for use, excluding cards on the Modern banned list. Come enjoy this wonderfully diverse format. $20 entry. Eternal Masters packs will be available for prizes.
    Friday, 30th 5:30-9:00pm

    Special Draft: We will either be doing a $16 Conspiracy: take the crown draft, or a slightly more awesome $10 cube draft (the cube uses a lot of conspiracy cards and is geared towards multiplayer chaos).
    Tuesday, June 20; 5-9pm

WPN Events April-May

***IMPORTANT***

As many of our regular customers are already aware, the store is MOVING to downtown Butler. Our last day in the Mall is April 31st. Our First day downtown is May 1st. While we endeavor to make this transition as smoothly as possible, some events may be impacted. Feel free to contact the store to confirm what's going on.

www.ndcomics.com
butler[at]ndcomics.com


WPN April Events

    Magic: The Gathering
    Commander: Commander: Pick your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and bring them all to throw-down in multiplayer commander format. Casual friendly enviroment.
    Tuesdays, Apr 4,11,18,25th; 5:30-9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic: Standard type 2 constructed event. $7.00 entry. 2packs /player in the prize pool. 4 rounds, 6 match points or better gets prizes.
    Fridays, Apr 14; 5:30-9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic - Modern: Modern is a non-rotating format containing all cards from the 8th edition core set to current sets. It is quite diverse and interesting. $10.00 entry. Prizes can be claimed as singles.
    Friday: Apr21; 5:30-9:00pm.

    Friday Night Magic - Draft: Join us for our monthly draft. $16.00 entry. DCI sanctioned. Hosted by Dan Regewitz.
    Friday: Apr7th.

Amon-Ket Open House – A casual event designed to welcome new players to our community.
Saturday Apr 15th 3pm- welcome and demos. 5pm- Standard constructed event – FREE

Amon-Ket Prerelease: NDC Is proud once again to offer a selection of sealed-deck events for the official Pre-release of Amon-Ket, the newest set of Magic. Times below.
Saturday 22; 11am Reg; Noon Start - $30 sealed-deck
Saturday 22; 4:30pm reg; 5pm Start - $30 sealed-deck
Sunday 23; 11:30am reg; 12:15 start - $30 (per player) 2-headed giant sealed-deck

Amon-Ket Release Draft: Our Allways popular $20 4-pack draft for the newest set of magic.
Friday, Apr 28th. 5:30-9:00pm

WPN May Events

    Magic: The Gathering
    Commander: Commander: Pick your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and bring them all to throw-down in multiplayer commander format. Casual friendly environment.
    Tuesdays, May 2,9,16,23,30th 5:30-9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic: Standard type 2 constructed event. $7.00 entry. 2packs /player in the prize pool. 4 rounds, 6 match points or better gets prizes.
    Fridays, May 5,19; 5:30-9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic - Modern: Modern is a non-rotating format containing all cards from the 8th edition core set to current sets. It is quite diverse and interesting. $10.00 entry. Prizes can be claimed as singles.
    Friday: 26; 5:30-9:00pm.

    Friday Night Magic – Draft; $16 draft format.
    Friday 17; 5:30-9:00pm.

Amon-Ket Game Day: $10 Standard format. Promos for all participants. Foil Promos for top 8, Playmat for 1st place.
Saturday, 20; 3pm-8pm

WPN events, Mar, Apr

WPN March Events
    Magic: The Gathering
    Commander: Commander: Pick your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and bring them all to throw-down in multiplayer commander format. Casual friendly enviroment.
    Tuesdays, March 7,14,21,28th 5:30-9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic: Standard type 2 constructed event. $7.00 entry. 2packs /player in the prize pool. 4 rounds, 6 match points or better gets prizes.
    Fridays, March 3,10,24 5:30-9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic - Modern: Modern is a non-rotating format containing all cards from the 8th edition core set to current sets. It is quite diverse and interesting. $10.00 entry. Prizes can be claimed as singles.
    Friday: 31; 5:30-9:00pm.

    Friday Night Magic - Draft Modern Masters: Modern Masters Draft $40 entry.
    Friday 17; 5:30-9:00pm.

Modern Mini Masters: One pack to start, second pack on first win/loss. One pack for each match win thereafter. 3 rounds. $30.00
Tues 21, 28; 5:00-9:00pm

WPN April Events
    Magic: The Gathering
    Commander: Commander: Pick your favorite stack of 100, or 5 of them, and bring them all to throw-down in multiplayer commander format. Casual friendly enviroment.
    Tuesdays, Apr 4,11,18,25th; 5:30-9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic: Standard type 2 constructed event. $7.00 entry. 2packs /player in the prize pool. 4 rounds, 6 match points or better gets prizes.
    Fridays, Apr 14; 5:30-9:00pm

    Friday Night Magic - Modern: Modern is a non-rotating format containing all cards from the 8th edition core set to current sets. It is quite diverse and interesting. $10.00 entry. Prizes can be claimed as singles.
    Friday: Apr21; 5:30-9:00pm.

    Friday Night Magic - Draft: Join us for our monthly draft. $16.00 entry. DCI sanctioned. Hosted by Dan Regewitz.
    Friday: Apr7th.

Amon-Ket Open House – A casual event designed to welcome new players to our community.
Saturday Apr 15th 3pm- welcome and demos. 5pm- Standard constructed event – FREE

Amon-Ket Prerelease: NDC Is proud once again to offer a selection of sealed-deck events for the official Pre-release of Amon-Ket, the newest set of Magic. Times below.
Saturday 22; 11am Reg; Noon Start - $30 sealed-deck
Saturday 22; 4:30pm reg; 5pm Start - $30 sealed-deck
Sunday 23; 11:30am reg; 12:15 start - $30 (per player) 2-headed giant sealed-deck

Amon-Ket Release Draft: Our Allways popular $20 4-pack draft for the newest set of magic.
Friday, Apr 28th. 5:30-9:00pm